Madaris-i Islami mein Qur’an Karim ka Mithali Nisab

This collection of twenty-eight papers takes up an important pedagogical issue: the teaching and syllabus of the Qur’an in Indian madrasahs. KAN Centre for Quranic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University, which offers various programmes of study on the Qur’an, had organized in March 2018 and March 2019 two seminars on the status of Qur’an teaching in the madrasahs across the country. Scholars representing various schools of thought entrenched in their respective madrasah orientations presented papers at both these seminars. During the seminar held in March 2019, the delegates deliberated on designing a model syllabus which may ensure a meaningful and rewarding study of the Qur’an. It was noted in the 2018 seminar, to the organizers’ dismay and bewilderment, that the Qur’an is only nominally taught in the madrasahs. Students, at most, browse only a part of some classical tafsir, mostly Baydawi or Razi, while remaining ignorant of the vast and rich legacy of tafsir writings. As madrasah students are not encouraged to reflect on the contents and other numerous marvels of the Qur’an, they fail to add to Qur’anic scholarship or to articulate its message in society. As a result, the Muslim masses, dependent on them for their religious guidance, remain largely ignorant of the vibrant, egalitarian and timeless message of the Qur’an. The lack of grounding in the Qur’an accounts, in the main, for the inability and inadequacy of madrasah graduates to act as mentors and counsellors for the Muslim community and providing leadership by way of charting a way out.